The desperate longing for something that doesn’t change

Most of my kids have wanted to rush right on through childhood and into adult life. They try to plan out their whole lives while they’re still in middle school.

I’ve had to reassure my 11-year–old repeatedly this year that she doesn’t have to choose a career in sixth grade.

But my son gets it. He gets all the beauty of being four years old.

Specifically, this week, he’s been thinking about his “little, soft blue blanket” and how he’d rather not give it up.

It doesn’t cover his whole body any more. He snuggles into his blanket as best he can, but his feet inevitably stick out, so he needs a supplemental blanket to provide full coverage.

But this blue blanket is loved. I dare to suggest he might be too big for it soon, and his answer is quick and clear: “I would like to stay to a kid forever.”

He’s my resident Peter Pan, not wanting to grow up, and the comfort of the blue blanket makes never-ending childhood oh so worth it to him for now.

I appreciate his happiness with the “now,” the willingness to just enjoy all that life offers in the present tense. He’s not worrying about the future or even trying to escape to the past. He’s four and he’s pleased to be four. That’s a beautiful thing.

But I also see in his little heart this desire for permanency, to cling maybe a little too strongly to what is good but what won’t last.

The truth is he’s going to keep growing out of this blanket. That day will surely come.

I understand his struggle, though, because I’ve been longing myself for something permanent, some reassurance that I won’t wake up to a new day and find life all shaky and unsure or find my feet sticking out of my favorite blanket.

I have this longing for peace, peace in all the places. Peace in work and ministry and home and friendship. No relational conflict. No disappointment in people. No workplace surprises. No undercurrent of trouble unexpectedly rising to the surface.

But “in this world you will have trouble,” that’s what Jesus told us, and just when peace settles into one place, it seems it shatters in another.

That’s bad news for a girl like me who longs for the comfort of a perfect plan and knowing all the details in advance.

But here’s the good news.

All that shakiness in the world around me and all those times I’m tumbled headlong into another season of change or uncertainty makes me desperately long for solid ground, for a permanent, unshakeable place to stand.

This longing drives me right to Jesus.

Scripture tells us that we can have that safe place. We can have an unmoving, never-changing, solid, trustworthy foundation that we can count on no matter what earthquake rattles the ground beneath us.

Even if we get the phone call, the email, or the bad news, we can always return to this safe place, this refuge.

We can be confident in God’s character.

Hebrews tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (13:8 CSB) and James reminds us that our heavenly Father “does not change like shifting shadows” (1:17 CSB). The Psalmist prayed, “But you are the same, and your years will never end” (Psalm 102:27 CSB) and reminded us that God’s “faithful love will endure forever” (Psalm 138:8).

God has been strong in the past and He will be strong. He has been able and He will be able. He has been mighty and He remains mighty.

No circumstance and no conflict changes His goodness or His compassion, His sovereignty or His power. His love endures. Right in the middle of whatever has tossed us into uncertainty or fear or fretting, God’s love remains steadfast and sure, and we can hide ourselves away in the shadow of that unfailing love.

We can be confident in God’s Word.

Jesus promised that “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35 CSB) and the Psalmist declared, “Lord, your word is forever; it is firmly fixed in heaven” (Psalm 119:89 CSB).

Peter said,

All flesh is like grass,and all its glory like a flower of the grass.The grass withers, and the flower falls,25 but the word of the Lord endures forever (1 Peter 1:24-25 CSB).

Forever.

Forever is what I need on the days my feet stick out of the blanket and I realize change is in the air. Forever is what I need when I long for peace, but it seems elusive.

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